Packed and Ready to Go

I spent the weekend packing for home. There was more to do than put my clothes in the suitcase. There will be some renovations to the condo while I am gone, so I had to pack up anything I want to have available when I return and store it. I need to be sure that I take all the appropriate documents with me on a jump drive so I can continue my project in my spare time at home. It was a good warm-up for next week when I finish packing my office for the move to the new building on December 4th. I also spent Sunday editing a 60+ page manuscript. That was pretty time consuming.

It was a beautiful and quiet weekend. I have been very lucky with the weather over the last three months. Other than a few rainy weekends, the weather has been very mild. I went out to walk both days to enjoy the crisp fall air and pick up some supplies. I am out of food and don't want to buy more than I need for a meal or two. As long as I have coffee and diet soda, I can survive.

It was a good sports weekend too. The Buckeyes won easily in the biggest game of the season. Kentucky basketball was not a worry but the football game was a pleasant surprise. I felt that Georgia had all the bad luck I have seen the Wildcats suffer many times. It was good to be on the other side for a change. With a win over Tennessee next weekend, the Cats could get a really good bowl game.

This will probably be my last entry until Februrary when I come back to Virginia for the last three months of my sabbatical. My life at home is too boring to write about. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving with John and Chris and their significant others. It will be hectic with only Wednesday to get ready. Happy holidays to all!

Last weekend

This will be my last weekend in Virginia until February. I have started thinking about packing my bags for home. It might be necessary to leave some things in the condo since I am going home by plane. There will be some renovations done while I am gone, so I need to pack up anything I leave here and store it in the little laundry closet. I will probably try to get that done over the weekend while I watch some college football and basketball. It will be a veritable smorgasbord of games--Ohio State-Michigan, Kentucky-Georgia and, of course, Kentucky basketball.

Today is the Thanksgiving potluck at the office. It reminds me of the luncheon we usually have at the COP. The primary difference will be in the number of people and the amount of food. It is going to be a beautiful fall day and a good weekend. I will try to get out and enjoy Old Alexandria for the last time this year.

On the work side, I need to start sending reminders to department chairs to send me their P&T documents. I have a little over 60 sets right now--hoping for close to 100. I'd better get to work.

5 days and counting

It is hard to believe that the first half of my sabbatical is coming to a close. In 5 days I will get on a plane for my old Kentucky home. I have always been fascinated by the way days go by slowly but weeks fly by. Maybe a physicist or philosopher can explain it to me.

Hopefully all my belongings will fit in the suitcases. (Thank God for medallion status so I don'thave to pay for my luggage) I'm trying to get to a good stopping point on my project, pack my stuff to leave in Virginia in a safe place during condo renovation, and use up all the perishable groceries before I leave. Unfortunately, I think I will run out of food a few days early.

Tomorrow we have a Thanksgiving potluck at the office. I wanted to contribute a little bit of Kentucky flavor to the meal, so I signed up to bring sweet potato casserole. The recipe originally came from "mama" Chandler, Happy's wife. It includes a bourbon flavored brown sugar topping. I love the casserole, probably because it tastes as much like a dessert as a vegetable. It was also a good practice exercise for the family Thanksgiving dinner. It will be fun to have John, Brit, Chris and Carrie with us. Brit's mother, Vickie, may also join us. I hope I can get everything done in time for dinner on Thursday. I'm still looking for football tickets for Chris and Carrie (hint, hint).

I'd better get to work. Only 4 work days left in Virginia.

PS. Thanks to G-ma for reminding me that there is an NFL game tonight and I need to make my pick.

Recovering from a heart attack

Boy, did the Cats dodge a bullet last night. Fortunately, we won't play too many teams that make 15 three's. I guess we need to realize that no matter how much talent they have, they are new to each other and the system. I'm curious to hear from those who were in attendance. What was the atmosphere like?

The trip back to Virginia was uneventful as was the work day. I left a little early to get into DC for the Leadership Fellows' reception. (blue line, Largo Town Center, doors open on the right -- that was for John). I got there in time to hear some of the comments by the pharmacy organization leaders. There are two former students in this group of fellows - Donnie Woodward at Rutgers and David Burgess at Texas. I see Donnie a lot at national meetings, but I haven't seen David in many years. He was in one of my first classes. He has a full head of silver hair. I didn't want to tell anyone that I was his teacher. It makes me look very old. Please resist the urge to make the obvious comment that I am very old.

Nothing else is new around AACP headquarters. It should be a quiet week trying to get a lot finished before returning to Kentucky.

That small world thing again

I had a great weekend at home in Lexington. This was the first visit home when we stayed home the whole time and didn't have any agenda to complete. It was relaxing and the weather was beautiful. I was glad to be in town for the visitation for Patti Rutledge's daughter-in-law so that I could provide some small measure of friendship and support for her. How sad for both families to lose Lauren and so soon after the wedding.

I did not make time to go to the office and pack. I am hoping to get there over the Thanksgiving holiday. It sure was a good thing I threw away half of the paper in my office before I left in August. Otherwise, I would be on the Ryan plan - light a match and start over. I see that the server will be down for 4 days. I only wish that it included email. Wouldn't that be nice!

In the waiting area for the DC flight at the airport this morning, I met up with Sheila Botts who is here for a one day meeting in DC. I am going in to DC at 5 for a reception for the AACP Fellows group. So we are going to meet afterwards for dinner. What a coincidence. I love to have people to go out to dinner with. Most nights I eat something very boring by myself in the condo. So if any of my followers are coming to DC or know of someone else who will be in town, let me know (except maybe TSF--just kidding--not).

Still looking for two football tickets for the Tennessee game. If you know of any, let me know.

So now it is back to my project for 7 work days. Then home for two months. Can't wait to see everyone and move to the taj.

Glad to be done visiting

I just finished a new school visit for ACPE. It was very interesting. It constantly amazes me that 100 schools can be doing the same basic job using the same set of criteria and yet we are all so different. It is energizing to see a group of people dedicated to starting a school from the ground up and trying hard to do it the right way.

I enjoyed visiting Milwaukee too. The weather was very mild for November. The school is on the lakefront of Lake Michigan. I forgot how big the Great Lakes are. They are definitely appropriately named. We were told that some athletes who came to town looked at Lake Michigan and asked which ocean it is. Despite all of the good things, I am glad to be finished. Yesterday was about a 16 hour work day. We started at 6:45 and got back to the hotel around 10:30PM. There was a lunch and dinner in there but they were both working meals.

I am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. I just got settled and got the laptop out when a guy sat down across the aisle. He took out his phone, dialed a number, turned to face away from his work carrel and aimed his very loud converation directly at me. After about 10 minutes, I had enough and got up to move across the room. There were other phone conversations but none as loud as the first guy . Suddenly, I became aware of a loud crunching noise nearby. Another gentleman was chomping away on some nuts. I didn't know they could crunch that loud. Fortunately, it only lasted 5-10 minutes. It makes me wonder if they were inconsiderately loud or if I am just a little testy from the schedule of the last few days.

I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend and then back to work at AACP for another 10 days before I head home for two months.

Oh no. The chomper just got a refill on his nuts. Gotta go!!!

I'm gonna buy a lottery ticket

I just landed in Detroit - 30 minutes early - at gate A18. My connecting flight to Milwaukee goes out of gate A19. I got an upgrade to first class on both segments. And the escalator up to the Delta Sky Club is right by my gate! This has got to be a sign that it is my lucky day.

I had another "it's a small world experience." The guy sitting next to me on the plane looked pretty unfriendly. He also had two Vodka and cranberry cocktails at 9:30 in the morning. I did not "engage" him in conversation until about 10 minutes before landing. He mentioned that he grew up in northeast Ohio around Akron. When I said I grew up in Alliance, he laughed and said he grew up in Minerva, a town even smaller than my hometown. He always says Akron because nobody has ever heard of Minerva. He is an ecologist from Harvard on a two year assignment with the NSF to chair a committee or something related to energy and climate change. I asked him if all this stuff is real. He said yes but the real problem is the big stuff like airliners. The irony is his job requires him to fly about 150,000 miles a year. I think I will still recycle.

This is my third posting today. I'm trying to get ahead in case I don't have internet access again until the weekend.